Former passenger on Titan submersible says you have to sign a waiver that mentions death 3 times on the first page: 'So it's never far from your mind'

• The search is on for a submersible that lost contact with the surface Sunday en route to the Titanic.
• A former passenger said the waiver he signed mentioned death three times on its first page.

A former passenger on the submersible that lost contact with the surface Sunday during a trip to the wreckage of the Titanic said the waiver he signed before his own trip mentioned death three times on its first page alone.

"You sign a massive waiver that lists one way after another that you could die on the trip," Mike Reiss told the BBC. "They mention death three times on page one, so it's never far from your mind."

Reiss took a trip on OceanGate Expeditions' Titan submersible in 2022 and said Tuesday: "As I was getting onto the sub, that was my thought: 'Well, this could be the end.'

"So nobody who's in this situation was caught off guard. You all know what you are getting into."

Reiss is a writer and producer in New York and has worked on "The Simpsons," the BBC reported.

He told the BBC: "It is really exploration. It is not a vacation. It's not thrill seeking. It's not skydiving. These are explorers and travelers who want to see something."

Reiss told the BBC that he had done three dives with the company — one to the Titanic and two off the coast of New York — and that communications were lost every time.

"This is not to say this is a shoddy ship or anything: It's just, this is all new technology, and they're learning it as they go along," he said. "You have to just remember the early days of the space program."

The US Coast Guard said the submersible lost contact an hour and 45 minutes into its dive Sunday and had five people on board.

A search is underway, but experts say that it will likely be complex because it's not clear where the submersible is.

The US Coast Guard said Monday afternoon that it had about 70 to 96 hours of oxygen left, which means oxygen will likely run out by Thursday afternoon ET.

The Titanic is about 13,000 feet below sea level — which is thousands of feet deeper than the point at which any undersea rescue has ever taken place.

Reiss told the BBC: "If it's down at the bottom, I don't know how anyone's going to be able to access it, much less bring it back up."